by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

Conservative writer and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza isn't sending any Thanksgiving good wishes to President Obama this year.

The author of The Roots of Obama's Rage started a Twitter firestorm Tuesday with this missive: "I am thankful this week when I remember that America is big enough and great enough to survive Grown-Up Trayvon in the White House!"

Trayvon Martin is the Florida teenager killed by George Zimmerman in 2012; Zimmerman, pleading self-defense, was acquitted by a jury earlier this year.

Tweeted reactions to D'Souza's included the terms "disgusting" and "vile." One tweet asked: "So is D'Souza's point that Obama should be shot?"

D'Souza -- who put together a critical film called 2016: Obama's America -- later deleted the offending tweet, as well as a follow-up response to the critics: "Feigned outrage on the left over me calling Obama 'grown up Trayvon' except that Obama likened himself to Trayvon!"

After Zimmerman's acquittal in July, Obama said African-Americans looked "at this issue through a set of experiences and a history ... that doesn't go away."

Said Obama: "You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago."